In vain
they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

"Hi-de-ho everybody. This is
Michael Jay Busybody speaking with Reverend Plebeian Baseborn Bathos.
First of all Reverend Bathos I would like to comment on your name. If I
may say so I find your name quite
intriguing. Is there a history attached to your name by any chance?"

"Indeed there is Mr
Busybody.
I come from a long line of Bathos' reaching far beyond the birth of
Christ.
Bathos is indeed a name worthy of honor and respect, and one I'm proud
to bear."

"Thank you for that
enlightenment Reverend Bathos. Now to your soon to be released book
that is drawing
much notice from the critics. As I understand it your book responds to
the recent call to unify the churches and
to blend them with other religions of the world. Do I have my
information straight?"

"You do indeed Mr Busybody.
The concept of one religion having superiority over another is a thing
of the
past. The modern, and correct view of God and religion is that we are
all the same, that God looks on all people
who call on Him in the same light. The day of Christian paramountcy is
over. The day of true
Christianity is upon
us and will very soon sweep the nation as well as the entire globe. I'm
sure you've seen the signs of change
written in the stars."

"I have indeed seen the
signs
of change Reverend Bathos. But the signs I see are quite confusing to
me. My
confusion might be that I come from the old school of thinking and what
I'm being confronted with is foreign
to me. Would you please help me assemble the dislodged pieces by
describing what it is you're seeing?"

"I would be most happy to
do
that for you Mr Busybody. We of the church have held the attitude that
Jesus
died for those who are baptized in His name and who choose to follow
Him bearing the name Christian. We can
see from history that such an attitude is unworkable. For hundreds of
years Christians, of whatever denomination,
persecuted and martyred those who chose to disagree with them. Today we
have this same elitist attitude in the
conventional churches. Instead of killing with sword and guillotine, we
now kill with condemning words and
condemnations anyone who does not see Christianity in exactly the same
light as we of a particular denomination
have been taught to see it. For this reason we find hatred and
prejudice throughout the traditional church society.
This is not the religion or the attitude Jesus shed His life for. In
1John 2:2 we read that Jesus died, not for the sins
of the Christian only, but for the sins of the whole world. He died for
the Jew, for the Arab, for the Hindu, and
even for the sins of the Atheist. Sin in the world is no longer in
question. Love is now the issue, not sin."

"I agree with you that the
churches have become very elitist and condemning Reverend Bathos, but
it seems
to me you're going a bit astray of your theological background when you
say sin no longer is in question. Would
you please expound on that statement if you will?"

"We all sin and come short
of
the glory of God Mr Busybody. That is a foundational premise. A
Christian,
by carrying such a title, is not exempt from this rule. If sin were
still in question than all of us are lost. What is
important is that we love one another. Jesus left this edict with His
Apostles, and we read it all through the
Epistles. Elitism and prejudice is not love. By the mere fact that one
person sees him or herself above any other,
even the most sinful Atheist, demonstrates they are without love, and
therefore condemned in spite of bearing
the Christian epitaph. We of the Ecumenical church system endeavor to
bring all people together. That is our
mission, to eradicate the hate and the ill will of the world."

"That is an honorable
mission
to be sure Reverend Bathos, but doesn't such teaching go contrary to
what
you teach your congregation, that being that Jesus and the receiving of
the Holy Spirit is the only way to God
and to Heaven?"

"You're not seeing the big
picture Mr Busybody. If you take a few words from here and there such a
concept
can be manufactured. The big picture is that everyone, from the least
to the highest, from the holy angels to Satan
himself, will ultimately be taken into Paradise, the place God has
established for His creations, all
His creation,
not just those who take a dip in the correct pool. As for the Holy
Spirit, if you read Acts 2:17 you will find that
God poured out His Spirit upon all
flesh, not just the Christian."

"Instead of helping sort
the
pieces so they connect Reverend Bathos, I fear you're knocking more of
my
assembled pieces to the floor. I'm far from literate in regards to the
Bible, but what you're telling me counters
everything I see Christianity to be. It's my understanding that to be a
Christian, one to be afforded salvation, they
must shun those with dissenting views, to love, but not be a part of
them, and to separate oneself from the
attractions of the world. You, it seems to me, are preaching just the
opposite. If I understand you correctly you're
saying that to be a true Christian, one conforming to what Jesus has
called for, we're to participate in the world,
and to readily accept as godly those who oppose God, or who choose to
worship other gods. How do you
reconcile these two anomalies?"

"Your confusion comes from
the fact that you're still looking at the little pieces that don't fit,
and missing
the big picture. The big picture is as I said before, God wants to
reconcile the world to itself, and to Him. He, like
you with your puzzle, wants no pieces left out of the big picture.
Those who worship God through another name
are still worshiping the Creator, regardless of what they call Him. Our
purpose in the Ecumenical churches is to
bring the world into one unit and to see one another as brothers rather
than enemies, which is and has been the
purpose of God since the creation of Adam and Eve, whether that
creation actually occurred, or if He
accomplished His creation by way of evolution, or some other way. Ours
is not to judge what is known to God
only. Our mission is to love one another, which is not only the cry of
Ecumenicalism, but of the world in general,
outside of Christianity that is."

"But Reverend Bathos, you
preach the Gospel, the Bible. Yet it sounds to me as if you don't truly
believe
the words of the Book you teach from. This I don't understand. Would
you please explain this apparent
contradiction if you will?"

"There is no contradiction
Mr
Busybody. I teach what I believe. The fact that I head a church with a
long
tradition does not preclude my teaching the truth, and teaching love as
was commanded by Jesus. How can I teach
love and hate at the same time? Jesus said to hate our mother, brothers
and our family if we wish to be His
disciples. Then He turned around and said we have to love one another,
even our enemies, if we want to be His
disciple. How can we do both? I choose to love rather than hate. Other
churches desire to hate rather than love.
Which do you consider the better Mr Busybody, to hate or to love?"

"To love of course Reverend
Bathos. But I fear you've missed the question I placed before you. How
can
you teach your congregation what is in the Bible, and also teach them
what you believe that contradicts
the Bible
at the same time?"

"The Bible is composed of
many precepts Mr Busybody. In the Old Testament for instance God was a
god
of anger and vengeance, even upon His own people. In the New Testament
we find a God of love and compassion
for everyone. Then at the very end of the Bible we read in the Book of
Revelation that God is once again a god
of wrath upon the whole world. How can I teach such a concept as this,
especially considering that out of the
thousands of views available in the church world, few seem to agree
with one another? They teach what they find
in the Word, which obviously has to be contrary to the Word. I, like so
many others of the modern Ecumenical
churches, choose to disregard the Book of Death and teach love and
concern, and the need to come together under
one banner as God desires of us. Do you understand now what I'm saying
Mr Busybody?"

"I believe I do Reverend
Bathos, I do believe I do."

This is Michael Jay back
with
a final observation. It's my opinion that in order for two people who
hold two
conflicting opinions to come together, both parties must surrender the
main premise of their belief. This is not
necessary if the intent of the union is to form an association. However
for a bonding to take place, this surrender
is essential. For the world to take the opinion that there is no God,
or that God accepts everyone is no surrender
at all. For the Buddhist to surrender his concept of God in order to
form such a union is again no surrender.
However if a Jew, or a Muslim were called to make such a compromise the
request would be rejected off-hand
because such a belief goes contrary to the very tenets of their
religion.

The Christian churches are
falling to the sway of Ecumenicalism, throwing out their basic tenets
and in so
doing undermining the very foundation of the Christian religion. In
other words, it seems to me they are meeting
under the banner of Christianity without having any form of
Christianity in their system of beliefs. Other of the
Traditional churches see themselves as refusing to compromise, however
in my observation these very churches
have been compromising their beliefs for decades to the point that a
puff of wind will cause them to fall over the
precipice of Ecumenicalism. And that wind, I suspect, will be in the
form of a universal anti-hate law which will
make the preaching and holding of morally disparaging attitudes
illegal. And this will cause the Bible itself to
become just another book on the banned list of reading material.

When, and if, the world
turns
to Ecumenicalism, the true Christian, unwilling to sacrifice His
position with
God, will become the outcast, the criminal, the person Jesus and the
Apostles were. Christianity in its traditional
form will die, and the Christian who is Christian in deed and not in
name only will be forced underground, as
they are in other countries, and as the Jews were in Nazi Germany.

5That
at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut,
psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music,
ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king
hath set up: 6And
whoso falleth not
down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a
burning fiery furnace. (Dan
3:)

12And
he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and
causeth the earth and them which dwell
therein to worship the first beast, whose
deadly wound was healed...... saying to them that dwell on the earth,
that they should make an
image to the beast, which
had the wound by a sword, and did live. 15And
he had
power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the
beast should both speak, and cause that as
many as would not worship
the image of the beast should be killed.16And
he causeth all, both small and
great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right
hand, or in their foreheads: 17And
that no man
might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast,
or the number of his name. (Rev 13:)

6And
thou shalt say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus
saith the Lord GOD; O ye house of Israel,
let it suffice you of all your abominations, 7In
that ye have brought into
my sanctuary strangers,
uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my
sanctuary, to pollute it, even
my house,
when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they
have broken my covenant
because of all your
abominations. (Ezek 44:)

30Also,
thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against
thee by the walls and in the doors of
the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying,
Come, I pray you, and hear what is
the word that cometh forth from the LORD. 31And
they come unto thee as the people cometh,
and they
sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will
not do them: for with their mouth they
show much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.
(Ezek 33:)

7Ye
hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, 8This
people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth,
and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 9But
in vain they do worship me, teaching
for doctrines the commandments of men. (Mat
15:)

13But
the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon
precept; line upon line, line upon
line; here a little, and there a little; that
they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and
taken. (Isaiah 28:)